Amanda Spratt is prepared for a race of attrition when she competes in the UCI Road World Championships in Yorkshire in September. The Springwood cyclist rode the course in April with her Mitchelton-Scott team when racing in the Tour of Yorkshire, describing it as a tough course with constant ups and downs. "Some of the biggest challenges will not come from the terrain itself - the roads are typically narrow, meaning that position into crucial sections will be key," Spratt said. "We also anticipate the weather to be grim - cold and raining, so that will be another challenge. It has all the elements to make quite an epic race. A race of attrition on a very exciting course." After riding to a silver medal at the world championships in Austria last year, Spratt's feeling prepared and excited ahead of these championships. "I've just finished a good training block in the mountains in Italy which signifies my first big training block leading into worlds after a really busy July. Everything is on track, I've been putting in a lot of hard work with my coach Gene Bates so I just feel confident in our plan and that helps to alleviate any pressure I might otherwise feel," Spratt said. "Having said that, there is always an element of pressure, but I would say I deal with that well - it's not something I am afraid of and I think if you want to be the best you have to be OK with it. I have a great team of people around me that fill me with confidence and give me such great support so that helps so much." While she's got one eye on the world championships, the other is on the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. "I think about them every day I train and I'm extremely motivated and driven to do everything I can to be there on the start line and to have a great performance there," Spratt said. In July she travelled to Tokyo with a few members of the Australian cycling team to ride the Olympic road cycling courses. "We have a lot of access to materials that allow us to recon courses remotely, but it was invaluable to be there in person, to experience the same conditions as expected for the Olympics and to ride the course from start to finish," Spratt said. "It's another tough course - similar in demands to the Yorkshire World Championships course with quite a hard finish around the Fuji Speedway. I like the course!"

The Springwood cyclist rode the course in April with her Mitchelton-Scott team when racing in the Tour of Yorkshire, describing it as a tough course with constant ups and downs.

"Some of the biggest challenges will not come from the terrain itself - the roads are typically narrow, meaning that position into crucial sections will be key," Spratt said.

"We also anticipate the weather to be grim - cold and raining, so that will be another challenge. It has all the elements to make quite an epic race. A race of attrition on a very exciting course."

After riding to a silver medal at the world championships in Austria last year, Spratt's feeling prepared and excited ahead of these championships.

"I've just finished a good training block in the mountains in Italy which signifies my first big training block leading into worlds after a really busy July. Everything is on track, I've been putting in a lot of hard work with my coach Gene Bates so I just feel confident in our plan and that helps to alleviate any pressure I might otherwise feel," Spratt said.

"Having said that, there is always an element of pressure, but I would say I deal with that well - it's not something I am afraid of and I think if you want to be the best you have to be OK with it. I have a great team of people around me that fill me with confidence and give me such great support so that helps so much."

While she's got one eye on the world championships, the other is on the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

"I think about them every day I train and I'm extremely motivated and driven to do everything I can to be there on the start line and to have a great performance there," Spratt said.

In July she travelled to Tokyo with a few members of the Australian cycling team to ride the Olympic road cycling courses.

"We have a lot of access to materials that allow us to recon courses remotely, but it was invaluable to be there in person, to experience the same conditions as expected for the Olympics and to ride the course from start to finish," Spratt said.

"It's another tough course - similar in demands to the Yorkshire World Championships course with quite a hard finish around the Fuji Speedway. I like the course!"